Specialized Care for Small Beginnings
At just 22 to 28 weeks old, our tiniest patients enter the world needing immediate, specialized care. The Small Baby Unit was created entirely for them. At Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth our skilled medical team protects delicate lungs, skin and organs in an environment carefully crafted to help fragile newborns grow stronger.
Every detail of this one-of-a-kind unit has purpose. The light, sound and temperature are adjusted to protect these little lives. Each baby has a private room, giving parents space to stay at the bedside 24/7, something not possible in many Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU).
"A lot of it is just the in-utero physiology we have to bring out ex-utero," neonatologist, Hevil Shah, M.D., MPH, MA, FAAP, explained. "The blood vessels in their brains are fragile. Their lungs, skin and gut are fragile. It's about meeting these babies exactly where they are — and we have the tools to do that."
Staffing is personal and precise. Often, these babies receive one-on-one nursing care. With a team of respiratory, physical, occupational and speech therapists dedicated solely to our NICU, families can know their babies are getting top-notch medical care from specialized experts. And when our Teddy Bear Transport team is contacted early, they can perform interventions and deliver the baby to our NICU within hours, dramatically improving survival and long-term outcomes.
This coordinated approach creates a seamless circle of care that supports each baby from their very first moments. Because when it comes to the smallest lives, there's nothing small about the care Cook Children's provides.
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Small Baby Unit: Giving the littlest NICU babies a fighting chance